Women’s Work

The World Wars unfolded as both harrowing battlefields and captivating cultural stages, with one of its greatest conflicts becoming the evolving role and recognition of women as they contributed to Australia’s military effort. During WWI, women’s direct involvement in the military beyond Australian soil was limited to a few thousand nursing roles. While some women […]

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Made to Order

If you had visited Morisset Psychiatric Hospital in the 1930s you may have met Jean Pursehouse wearing this standard-issue nurse’s uniform—a long-sleeved, blue-denim dress, with white buttons and collar. On the long shift from sunrise to sunset, nurses like Jean rolled up the stiff sleeves of these, heavily starched, hardwearing uniforms to get on with […]

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